With 2018 right around the corner companies are turning their focus more on social shopping and less on brick and mortar stores. One of the most influential businesses stepping up and becoming an unstoppable leader in social shopping is Amazon. To gain a better insight into where online shopping is heading let’s take a look at the latest and greatest shopping updates Amazon has rolled out and how they’re making shopping social again.
Amazon Spark
Amazon Spark is a new Instagram-like social feature by Amazon that is encouraging users to shop, A LOT. As if Amazon wasn’t already growing at an incredibly fast pace, their recent launch of Spark has set them even further ahead of the competition. Similar to Instagram, Spark is a picture feed in which a consumer can scroll through, like, and even comment on pictures posted by other users. The difference? Every item pictured throughout the feed can be purchased immediately with the tap of a finger.
Upon activation, Spark requests that you choose a minimum of 5 “areas of interest”. After choosing 5, Spark curates a personal feed of product-oriented posts attached with reviews for the user. By creating a shoppable feed directly from the Amazon app, Amazon will be able to leverage the feedback and press they’re receiving on other social platforms and bring it back to their own.
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Currently, all Amazon members have access to Spark. However, only Prime members are allowed to share posts on it. By opening up Spark to Prime members first, Amazon is hoping that they will soon discover and share items more conveniently than before and get other consumers involved as well.
Amazon Seeks Out Influencers
Earlier this year Amazon began offering YouTube stars more ways to make money by asking them to promote Amazon products in their videos. In November, they announced the Amazon influencer program would now be available to those on Twitter and Instagram as well. This new program, allows Amazon to test out the influencer marketing world, and in return, offers influencers a customizable and shoppable Amazon storefront to send their followers too.
While this program is similar to Amazon’s already established affiliate link program, Amazon offers influencers a customizable Amazon URL instead of an affiliate link – which is extremely valuable if you’re on Youtube. With this unique URL, influencers will be able to send viewers directly to a custom shop full of their favorite products and receive a commission on all sales.
Voice Optimized Content Is The Future And Amazon Is Way Ahead
Last year alone over 20% of online searches were conducted through voice search. And that number is expected to increase dramatically in the next few years. Much like marketers had to optimize websites to mobile; it will be crucial to begin optimizing for voice search as well.
While it’s too soon to say if smart assistants will replace smartphone apps as the main way we interact with computers, it’s safe to say technology is heading in that direction. With this in mind, Amazon is making sure it’s prepared for the new wave of technology and setting itself up as a leader in the Industry.
With “Amazon Echo” being the early leader in smart-speaking devices, Amazon is capitalizing on this technology and not only using it in future devices, but they are also licensing them out to be used in other companies devices. If these trends continue and voice search popularity rises smart tools like Alexa could become the main way we search, shop, and consume media online.
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Amazon is taking full advantage of being the dominant leader in the voice search field by promoting their technology even further this holiday season. This past month Amazon allowed voice shoppers access to special Cyber Monday deals hours earlier than those solely shopping online. All they had to do was ask Alexa!
Amazon Quietly Turns Into A Social Sharing Platform
It’s not hard to see that Amazon believes that shopping should be social. This year we’ve seen many social platforms adding new ways to shop and purchase items directly from the app. However, Amazon, a shopping platform is taking the opposite approach and making things more social. By adding features like rich profiles, hearts, and connections, Amazon is making it possible to shop alongside your family and friends, give feedback, and even make reviews a stronger part of the buying process. Amazon’s new public profiles and profile search make it easier to find friends and family, view public lists, and have conversations with other users. Now, even online shopping doesn’t have to be lonely!
